


You Girl

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, F/M, past abusive relationships mentioned, spoilers for 319, takes place after 317
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 11:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19972948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Bex talks to Bowie about why she's afraid to get married.





	You Girl

Bex walked into the apartment and collapsed onto the couch where Bowie was sitting reading a book. Without even looking up from his book, he lifted up his arms, so she could put her head in his lap.

After a few seconds, he put his book down on the table next to the couch and started playing with her hair. “How was SAVA?”

“It was good. Andi seems pretty excited about it.” She decided not to mention her own fears that Andi wouldn’t get in.

Bowie nodded. “Where is she?”

“Andi Shack. Apparently, seeing all the art there inspired her.”

He smiled. “That’s good. So just the two of us for dinner again?”

She nodded. “Yep. What are we having?”

“Haven’t decided yet.” They lapsed into a not-quite-awkward, but not-quite-comfortable silence. He looked down at her. “Are you ok?”

She forced a smile. “Hey, who wants pizza?” He just raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed. “I’ve just been, you know, thinking about stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

She turned so she was laying on her side, facing away from him. “Our wedding.” She said it so quietly that, if they hadn’t been so close together, he might not have heard her.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What about it?”

“I know how much you wanted it to happen, and now I feel bad for taking that away from you.”

“Bex, you didn’t take anything away from me. All I want is for us to be together and for you to be happy. And we can’t get married if we don’t both want to. That’s how this works.”

“But I want you to be happy, too.”

“I am happy.”

She rolled back onto her back and looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

He smiled. “Of course. It’s really just a party and a piece of paper. I don’t know why you think it would change things so much.”

She looked away from him. “Miranda.” She said it quietly, more to herself than to him.

“What?”

She looked up at him and repeated herself. “Miranda.” He looked confused. She sighed. “She came into Cloud 10 the day I was going to mail out the invitations. She started saying all this stuff about how she had the perfect relationship with Morgan’s father, until they got married, and it changed everything. And I know I shouldn’t have let her get into my head, but…” She trailed off.

“Hey, that’s not your fault. Calling Miranda manipulative would be an understatement. And she was clearly trying to break us up because she still likes me.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because, that same day, she came into the Red Rooster and basically said as much.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So you really shouldn’t listen to her. I don’t know anything about what happened between her and Morgan’s dad, but if she treated him anything like how she treated me, it wasn’t because they got married that their relationship failed. And we aren’t them. Neither of us are anything like Miranda.”

She looked away again. “It’s not just Miranda though.”

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

She sighed. “I think the reason she was able to get into my head so easily is because those doubts and fears were already there. She didn’t create them; she just brought them back. I thought that they were gone when Andi and I did that closure ceremony thing, but I guess not.”

He looked even more confused now. “What?”

She got up and grabbed her memory box. She came back and sat on the couch facing Bowie. “The only other person I’ve told about this is Andi, and I didn’t really go into a lot of detail then because, you know, she’s a kid; she doesn’t need that. We did this whole closure ceremony thing, and I think it helped, at least for a while, but I think I need to actually talk about it. At the very least, I think you deserve to know.”

He held her hand. “You only have to tell me what you want to, but I am always here to listen. You know that, right?”

She nodded. She opened the box and pulled out a picture that had been torn up and taped back together. She handed it to him and put the box on the coffee table.

He looked at it and then back at her. “Who is this?”

“His name is Gabriel.”

He put the picture on top of the box and turned so he was facing her with his entire body. “Tell me about him. Whatever you’re comfortable sharing anyway.”

So she did. She told him everything from the beginning. All the gritty details she had left out when telling Andi about him. Things she had never spoken out loud before. Things she had forgotten about until she started talking about it. Things that were hard to talk about. But Bowie was there for her through all of it. He held her when she needed him to. He got her water and ordered a pizza when he realized they were going to be there for a while. He got her tissues when she started crying.

By the time she was done, they were laying on the couch together, a mostly empty pizza box on the table in front of them. Her tears had dried, and they had been silent for a while.

“You know that none of that was your fault, right? And that it doesn’t reflect on who you are as a person at all.”

She nodded. “I know that.” She pointed at her head. “But I don’t know that.” She put her hand on her heart. “You know?”

Bowie nodded. “Yeah, I get that. And I’m not going to expect you to just get over it after one conversation.”  _ If only things could be that simple. _ “But I’m always going to be here for you. And I’ll keep reminding you of how loved and valid you are as long as you need me to.”

She smiled and looked up at him. “Thank you.”

He kissed the top of her head and held her tighter. They ended up falling asleep like that.

The next day, Bex started formulating a plan. She texted Buffy, Cyrus, and Jonah. Was it weird that she was friends with a bunch of middle schoolers? Probably. Were they going to help her plan an amazing wedding? Definitely. And she wasn’t going to let people like Gabriel and Miranda get in the way of her happiness ever again.


End file.
